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their traps was the large pool lying beneath a small
waterfall, which itself stemmed from an offshoot of one of the many
streams flowing down from the surrounding hills.
    That’s where
they were heading for now, hoping that they’d trapped one of the
animals that used the pool for drinking.
    As they
approached through the thick undergrowth, Celly and Jake could hear
angry shuffling, frustrated grunting.
    ‘We’ve caught
something,’ Jake exclaimed excitedly. ‘Sounds quite large
too.’
    ‘Sounds like
it’s still alive too,’ Celly added more doubtfully. ‘Perhaps we’d
better leave it for Hincheley or Mary to take care of.’
    Celly was aware
that, no matter the size of the trapped animal, she’d be more than
capable of ‘taking care of’ it. But even now, even though Jake knew
she wasn’t human, she’d didn’t like undergoing even the smallest
transformation in front of him.
    She preferred to
try and maintain the fallacy that she was still the Celly he had
always known.
    Even when the
trapped animal was small enough for either of them to quickly
dispatch with the twist of a neck, or the swift slicing of a blade
across the throat, they both originally insisted on leaving it for
Hincheley to ‘take care of’. It was only when they realised this
was prolonging the animal’s suffering that they decided they would
take turns in dispatching the poor creature.
    Celly would
always use a knife, never a talon. Even the neck wringing seemed to
her to be too much of a sign of her being ‘monstrous’.
    They broke
through the thick curtain of large, rubbery leaves surrounding the
clearing containing the watering hole.
    Jake halted,
Celly almost colliding into his back.
    ‘Hah, that’s much bigger than I expected.’
    It was a
gigantic wild boar, trapped by a hind hoof in the twine
noose.
    As Celly and
Jake appeared from out of the enveloping jungle, the boar halted
its frantic efforts to pull itself free. It eyed them both
suspiciously, curiously, like it was trying to figure out if they
had anything to do with its entrapment.
    It surely, Celly
thought, didn’t see them as a threat. They were far too small to
give it any cause for concern.
    Whatever it had
decided, it suddenly propelled itself forwards towards
them.
    Unable to
withstand the abrupt jerk of the powerful charge, the twine noose
snapped.
    And suddenly,
Jake found himself standing directly in the path of a furious,
rampaging boar.
     
     
    *
     
     
    ‘Run!’ Celly
cried.
    Jake didn’t
move.
    He was
petrified, frozen to the spot with fear and a sense of
hopelessness.
    The boar had
lowered its head, tusks menacingly jutting forward, each one of
which would penetrate deeply, shattering bones, ripping apart
flesh, muscle, organs. With a fierce jerk of its massive head, he’d
be tossed up in the air, badly gored, either dying or at least
invalided for life.
    He could see its
eyes, red with fury and blood lust.
    Behind him,
there was an abrupt, violent gust of wind, a wind that soared over
his head.
    Suddenly, the
boar ahead of him seemed to be struck by a blinding burst of the
sun itself, an orb of glittering gold and silver falling upon it
and bringing its charge to an immediate halt.
    Celly’s immense
wings, curling around the action, glowed vibrantly, almost
painfully. Jake saw the furiously rising and falling talons only as
further sharp glints of light.
    But he could see
the effect that Celly’s attack was having on the boar.
    It was
thrashing, snorting, growling.
    Fighting
back.
    Tossing its
head, probing for weaknesses that its fearsome tusks could make the
most of.
    Lifting itself
up on its powerful hind legs, lashing out with its equally powerful
forelegs.
    But Celly wasn’t
retreating.
    The talons rose
and fell time and time again, each time duller, more bloodied than
before. She was even using her wings not only to give her the lift
she needed but also to brutally batter the now writhing, squealing
animal.
    The boar knew it
was